Kyle Carpenter addressing the audience with State Representative William Lawrence, Mason County Judge-Executive Owen McNeill and Maysville Mayor Debra Cotterill looking on.
A blessing for a newly installed Safe Haven Baby Box took place last week at the Maysville Fire Department (MFD).
MFD Chief Kyle Carpenter began the blessing by thanking several individuals for their help.
“I look around, and it’s all of you that have made this able to happen. The support of the community and not only Maysville and Mason County, numerous people have been involved in this. Without your help, this wouldn’t be possible,” stated Carpenter.
He further noted that when previous MFD Chief Kevin Doyle was in the process of retiring, he had asked Carpenter if he would continue his work to bring a baby box into the region, explaining that both he and his mother had been very passionate about the project but had not been able to get it off the ground.
Shortly after his retirement, Doyle passed away in a tragic accident.
“When the dust settled, and we were just trying to build back up, we were trying to find a way to let his legacy live on,” said Carpenter.
One day, Carpenter was in his office with Maysville Police Department Social Worker Ashley Messer, and they decided together that the project would be a good way to continue his legacy.
Carpenter invited Doyle’s mother, LuAnn Doyle, to say a few words.
“We have found that profound sadness and blissful joy can sometimes exist side by side. Today is the day that I am blissfully joyful. A Safe Haven Baby Box for this area was a dream of mine for many years,” she said. “With the dedication and opening of this region’s safe haven box, if we save but one baby, or hopefully many more, it will be worth it.”
She noted that this project would not have been possible without the many wonderful people and organizations who stepped in to assist, especially Carpenter and Messer.
LuAnn Doyle thanked Carpenter for his “persistence and efforts” throughout the year to make the project a reality, and Messer, who LuAnn Doyle referred to as “relentless” in her efforts to raise funds and keep the project moving forward.
Kentucky State Representative for District 27, Nancy Tate, then stood to speak in place of Monica Kelsey, stating that the Maysville Safe Haven Baby Box blessing (#63) was one of six taking place that day.
Tate began by telling a story.
“In 1972, there was a 17-year-old young girl that was violently raped, and she was left by the side of the road to die. Fortunately for us, she was saved and she was taken to the hospital, and she continued to recuperate physically. When she was three months later, she found out that she was pregnant. And from that violent crime was how Monica Kelsey was conceived,” explained Tate.
She noted that Kelsey did not find out about the circumstances of her conception until her late 30s or early 40s, and that the information made Kelsey “question everything about herself.”
Not long afterward, on a mission trip to Africa, Kelsey encountered her first baby box. She was intrigued and inspired.
“On the aircraft home on a napkin — as we know, lots of great ideas are created on napkins — on a napkin was where she wrote up and designed the very first safe haven baby box,” explained Tate. “She took that napkin to Woodburn, Indiana, which is where she lives, and she was able to find an electrician to help her with this box.”
Kelsey had previously served in the armed forces and was currently working as an EMT for the local fire department. Her husband, who was the mayor, was still active in the military and was called away for active duty. After his departure, Kelsey had the first baby box installed.
According to Tate, to date, 71 babies have been saved because of Safe Haven Baby Boxes.
“In the Commonwealth of Kentucky, three babies have been saved by the safe haven baby box,” she added.
Tate then explained that she is the pro-life caucus chair for the General Assembly of the House in Kentucky and claimed that in December 2019, a baby was abandoned in a cardboard box. Afterward, she called Kelsey and asked to know everything about the Safe Haven Baby Boxes, stating her belief that the Commonwealth needed them.
House Bill 155 was prepared in 2021, passed through the House and Senate, and was sent to the Governor’s desk.
“There have been two modifications to this bill. One was to be able to put Safe Haven Baby Boxes in EMS centers, and then the third was for there to be signage in the schools,” said Tate.
Addia Wuchner, Executive Director of Kentucky Right To Life, gave a speech at the blessing and thanked the committee and the Doyle family.
“Yesterday, we were at a baby box invocation, and it’s a term, you know, it takes a village, it takes a heart, takes a heart approach, it sees something, a vision makes it come to life, and then it takes all of you,” Wuchner stated.
She continued, “I said to one community, probably about a year and a half ago, I said, it might not be today, and it might not be tomorrow, but someday there could be a baby in your box in six months. Six months later, there was a baby in their box.”
After Wuchner spoke, Carpenter surprised her and Tate with Challenge Coins, which were created for Kevin Doyle when he retired.
“Those Challenge Coins mean a lot to us. We get emotional talking about these Challenge Coins, don’t we? So… we held on to them for a long time, and even afterwards we still hold onto them to remember the legacy he left, and how he put his community first,” Carpenter stated.
William Lawrence, Kentucky House Representative for the 70th District, expressed that the blessing shows how a community can come together for something important.
He then thanked Carpenter for his leadership and noted that Doyle would be “more than proud” of the work he had done, adding that it has been an honor to serve alongside Tate in the House of Representatives.
“You have been such a champion for all things pro-life, and it’s easy to be pro-life when there’s no solutions, but today we’re giving solutions,” Lawrence stated. “We’re giving those solutions, we’re telling people that this is what we, the General Assembly, we the people of Mason County, are doing to support those efforts.”
Maysville Mayor Debra Cotterill expressed her belief that Doyle was smiling down on them and added that it was an exciting day and a wonderful tribute to him.
“The thing that really touches me as the mayor is this community and the heart, the caring and the empathy that you exhibit every day, and this is just one more example of that,” said Cotterill.
She further stated that it is heartwarming to know that Maysville has a solution with the baby box.
After Cotterill remarked on the blessing, Mason County Judge Executive Owen McNeill spoke and expressed his belief that this is a new opportunity.
“A lot of times, when you think about a newborn, it is nothing but opportunity and happiness and… a whole new world opening there. But then also a lot of times it can be… it can be overwhelming, and I am incredibly proud that Maysville-Mason County and northeastern Kentucky is a community that at minimum offers options,” he stated.
According to Carpenter, Messer was his partner in crime through this project. Messer expressed that she collaborates a lot with the fire department, including calls for service and projects like this one.
“Prior to this role, I worked for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services for nine years. Just over seven of those were in child welfare. I’ve seen firsthand heartbreaking situations where parents felt they had no option for their children,” said Messer. “Places I have worked remind me that every safeguard we put in place can change the trajectory of a child’s life, and so today we dedicate this box as a promise to protect the most vulnerable among us.”
Messer thanked those at the Fire Department for dedicating their time to the installation and training required for the project. She also thanked Primary Plus, multiple chapters of Women Life, Saint Patrick’s School, Students for Life Group, members and leaders of the Saint Patrick’s Church, and members and leaders of Crosspoint Church for fundraising for the project.
She then stated that, two years ago, she was in a group chat with Doyle, and his wife, Lauren Doyle, in which she expressed that the Maysville Fire Department should get a baby box.
“Kevin very quickly responded and said, ‘Hey, hold on, my mom has wanted to pursue that project for a while, and I’m going to try to make that the last thing I do before I retire, ‘” said Messer. “This is my biggest hope —that this project and the other things we do in our daily work within our community are bringing him honor and happiness.
“Thank you to everyone in attendance today. Your support matters not only to any infant saved with this box and the families who make the difficult decision to surrender, but also the first responders who respond to these calls. Rather than carrying a lifetime burden of finding an abandoned baby in a dumpster on the side of the highway, maybe now they’ll have the chance to carry a sweet, innocent life from this location to just up the road,” she concluded.
Chad Current, Pastor of Crosspoint Community Church, then said a prayer over the box.
“The best part about working at the City of Maysville is how all the groups and entities and its organization work together. Whether it’s the police, fire, public works, water, even the tourism department, all aspects we’ve worked together through a common goal,” he stated. “And even you can add the county to that because we’re such a small community that it takes all of us working together.”
